One of the most important medical discoveries of all time happened because Oskar Minkowski performed surgery on a dog. On a bet. Trust us, it gets weirder.

First, Minkowski himself: a Lithuanian Jew who converted to Christianity later in his life. Then, the bet: Minkowski and a colleague argued if someone can survive without their pancreas. You know, nothing crazy. Just your usual, everyday discussion between men of science.

So, Minkowski removed his dog's pancreas to win the bet. Actually, we're not sure about the word "his". Maybe he picked up a stray dog off the street? Either way, it's somewhat disturbing.

Now, for the punchline: after the dog survived surgery, Minkowski noticed that his urine tasted sweet. No, Minkowski didn't taste the urine himself! (As far as we know?) He saw that flies were strangely attracted to it. This led Minkowski to correctly link the pancreas to blood sugar, which, down the line, led to the discovery of insulin.

We bet he tasted the urine himself...